A whopper of a wasp

You never know what surprises — some hair-raising — are waiting to be discovered when out and about in Penn's Woods.

You never know what surprises — some hair-raising — are waiting to be discovered when out and about in Penn's Woods.

Not too long ago, my friend Stan Galenty and I had searched for plants and animals at State Game Lands 312 in Lehigh Township, Wayne County.

During the bright and sunny mid-morning hours, we visited a wetland opening — actually the swampy remnants of an old beaver dam along the upper Lehigh River. It was a classic floodplain swamp, thick in shrubs such as highbush blueberry and meadowsweet.

We fought our way through until we reached the headwaters of the Lehigh River. The pristine, narrow stream was bordered with tussock sedge, wool-grass and tall wetland grasses.

Dazzling dragonflies patrolled the stream's border in lightning-fast dashes, while flashes of color of diminutive damselflies floated between the grasses. We identified more than a dozen species, including some rarities — Uhler's sundragon, American emerald and harlequin darner.

There was movement underwater as native brook trout quickly darted from our lurking shadows. The long, narrow leaves of eel-grass and bur-reed rippled in the rapids, while the broad, strapping leaves of the uncommon golden-club slowly waved with the flow.

Our morning adventure uncovered several rare species, but our next two finds left eye-opening impressions.

By noon, the temperature became hot, muggy and humid, so Stan and I ventured into a shaded forest where we found a few fallen logs to sit and eat our lunch.

Suddenly, a horntail wasp landed on a log beside us.

The chunky, inch-long wasp was brown with yellow rings around its abdomen. It exhibited six long legs and amber-tinted wings.

We noticed it was a female horntail wasp, with a dark-brown stiff, sharp stinger-like ovipositor at the tip of her abdomen. The wasp methodically positioned its arched abdomen and inserted her ovipositor into the hardwood. She wiggled and bored into the wood until her ovipositor was deep enough to deposit an egg.

The wasp did this another eight times, carefully selecting a new spot for each egg. Female horntails typically lay their eggs in trees and logs. The newly hatched larvae bore into the wood and live in the tree or log for up to two years, then emerge as horntail wasps.

As we headed back to the car, we walked along an old logging road. Unexpectedly, a gigantic purple flying creature flew in front of Stan and landed on a fern.

"Holy cow, look at the size of that!" shouted Stan.

It was a giant ichneumon wasp, and one of the largest I have ever seen.

We ran over to the colossal insect and admired its incredibly long ovipositor.

Most people are extremely cautious of wasps and bees, perhaps from a previous stinging encounter. So, when one observes a wasp seven times the size of a typical mud-dapper, you instinctively take caution.

The female giant ichneumon wasp is a formidable-looking flying weapon, as it appears to be armed with dangling stingers long enough to go through one's arm. Fortunately, these are used for depositing eggs into trees and logs, such as the ones used by the smaller horntail wasp.

However, where one finds a horntail wasp, a giant ichneumon is nearby.

The female giant ichneumon wasp uses her long, streaming ovipositor to lay an egg onto the body of a horntail wasp larva, deep inside a log. When the ichneumon egg hatches, it attaches to the horntail larva and eventually consumes it.

The giant ichneumon wasp that Stan and I encountered was more than 7 inches long — one of the longest insects in North America.

It was a beautiful insect in iridescent purple with bright yellow legs. Its antennae were at least half an inch long.

However, the most amazing body part was the extension of its abdomen: three extremely long appendages, one the ovipositor and two act as sheaths.

How the giant ichneumon wasp drills into trees and logs has been a mystery for centuries, even to Charles Darwin. Recently, Timothy J. Gibb, insect diagnostician, entomology, at Purdue University, learned just how the wasp forces its long, flexible ovipositor into solid wood.

Gibb reports, "Recent research has found metal (ionized manganese or zinc) concentrated in the extreme tip of some species' ovipositors. This may explain, in part, how such an incredible phenomenon can occur. Interestingly, high metal concentrations are not limited to the female's ovipositor. Metals have also been found in the hardened mandibles of the developing adult. It chews itself back out of the wood once its development is complete. In other words, the giant ichneumon is equipped with a metal drill bit. Actually, it does not drill into wood but uses the sharp metal-like tip as a saw blade."

The giant ichneumon is one amazing insect. I have seen folks on my nature hikes run in the opposite direction when they unexpectedly encounter a giant ichneumon wasp. Furthermore, some nearly faint at the sight when I pick one up and let it crawl on my arm.

Even though I know it's a harmless insect, I still get an eerie feeling when I deliberately pick one up. Once again, I tested my intestinal fortitude and allowed the giant ichneumon wasp to crawl over my exposed skin.

I felt its scratchy legs — all six of them — comb the stiffened hairs on my arm and tried to remain motionless as its rigid 6-inch egg-stinger glided across my skin.

Stan dared himself the experience as well and allowed the creature to slowly dance the feeling of harmless fear across his wrist.

It was another great day in the Poconos, thanks to eerie feelings from 7 inches of wow — the giant ichneumon, a whopper of a wasp!

Contact Rick Koval at pocononaturalist@yahoo.com or write to him at PO Box 454, Dallas, PA 18612.

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